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Roundball Classic
Insights PG West: Roundball Classic has plenty of star power :Thursday, April 10, 2008, By Rich Emert, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette When Allen Deep called Jeannette High School boys' basketball coach Jim Nesser to ask if he would be interested in coaching one of the teams in the 2008 Roundball Classic, Nesser had a question for Deep. "He said to me, 'I suppose you want me to bring Terrelle Pryor?' And I said to him, 'Jim, there's just one player from your team we want you to bring to the game ... Shaw Sunder,'" Deep said with a laugh. Deep, a Riverside School District resident, is the director for the Roundball Classic, which will take place Saturday evening at Metheny Fieldhouse on the campus of Geneva College in Beaver Falls. He is in charge of rounding up the talent for the games. This is the sixth season for the Roundball Classic at Geneva College and this year's event promises to be perhaps the best. One reason is that while Sunder, a 6-foot-4 senior who averaged 12 points per game and helped Jeannette win WPIAL and PIAA Class AA titles, will play in the boys' game, so will Pryor, who is 6-6 and all-everything. The Associated Press Class AA Player of the Year in the state as well as a Parade magazine All-American in basketball and football, Pryor averaged 21.9 points per game. The boys' all-star game will be played 20 minutes after the girls' all-star contest that will tip off at 6:30 p.m. Pryor, who is headed to Ohio State to play football, has said he will play in the Roundball Classic. That means four of the five players selected to the Post-Gazette's Fabulous Five will be in the Classic, although not on the same team. The others are Schenley senior Deandre Kane, who averaged 31.1 points per game this season and helped the Spartans to the PIAA Class AAAA title last year; Moon Area's Brian Walsh, who averaged 19.7 ppg., is the Gatorade Player of the Year in the state and is headed to Xavier; and Blackhawk's Antoine Childs, who will attend Western Carolina, averaged 20.6 ppg. and led the Cougars to the WPIAL Class AAA title. Also expected to play in the boys' game are Aliquippa standout Jonathan Baldwin, Hopewell guard Mark Javens, Norwin's Mike Shanahan, Laurel Highlands' Kaleb Ramsey, Derrik Zeroski of West Allegheny, Brandon Sams of Central Catholic, Reece Mabery of Highlands, Kenny Cottman and David Phillips of Beaver Falls, Jason Kolesar and Jake Wickline of Riverside, Anthony McPherson of Center, Steve Cress of Mars Area, Marco Cukic of Greensburg Central Catholic, Jacob Dudzinski of Belle Vernon Area and Anthony Epolito and Pat Grubbs of PIAA Class A champion Serra Catholic. With so much talent -- there are eight Associated Press All-State players in the boys' game -- Deep said he had to think long and hard about who would be on which team. The talent is divided into Black and Gold teams, for obvious reasons. "You can't put all of the top guys on one side," Deep said. "We'll try to spread it out to make it even." While nothing is etched in stone, Deep will probably have Pryor on the same team with the 6-4 Kane, the 6-3 Ramsey, who is headed to Boston College on a football scholarship, and 6-4 Sunder. On the other side will be the 6-6 Baldwin, who will play football at Pitt and averaged 21.5 points per game, the 6-4 Walsh, the 6-5 Childs and Shanahan, 6-5, who is also headed to Pitt for football. Pryor and Kane, who is considering Pitt and Duquesne, are buddies. Walsh and Shanahan are friends and played on the same AAU team. Nesser will coach one team -- probably the one with Pryor -- while Blackhawk High School's Andy Hedrick will guide the other. "Our game has gotten a little better each year, but this might be the best talent we've ever had," Deep said. "It's to the point where we've got the best game around." That doesn't just go for the boys' contest. The girls' roster is equally loaded with eight all-state players. Expected to play are Duquesne University recruits Jackie Babe of Mt. Lebanon and Alex Gensler of Upper St. Clair, California (Pa.) recruit Kiki Brown of Ambridge, Pitt recruit Shawnice Wilson, who is 6-6, of Westinghouse and Christina Chukwuedo of Monessen. Other area players expected to participate in the girls' game are Beth DeLuca and Krista Franitti of Blackhawk, Alyssa Miller of Beaver Falls, Katie Landis of Rochester, Micki Cerchiaro of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart, Alyse Scarsella of Monaca, Samantha Perkins of Riverside and Rebecca Pollack of Moon Area. With Pryor, Baldwin, Childs, Kane, Walsh and company there are sure to be plenty of can-you-top-this dunks. Instead of having a slam dunk competition, Deep tells players to do their thing in pregame warmups. "Last year, DeJuan Blair at Pitt put on a show in the warmups," Deep said. "We expect it to be even better this year." Tickets are $7 and available at the door.